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In many areas of law there has been little or no change for homosexuals during the post-Stonewall years. Gays are not allowed to marry. They may have trouble adopting, and risk losing custody of their biological children. In 23 states their private lovemaking remains technically illegal. While a growing number of companies offer some form of benefits for same-sex "spousal equivalents," all but eight states allow employers to fire people just for being gay. Sexually active gays remain unwelcome in many mainstream Christian churches. Denominations that are more accommodating face fractious internal dissent -- as happened last week, when an Episcopal congregation in Arlington, Texas, voted to switch to Roman Catholicism, in large part over some Episcopalians' willingness to bless same-sex marriages.
While gays see themselves as fighting for equal rights, opponents often characterize what is at stake as "special rights," a tacit appeal to the backlash generated by affirmative-action programs for blacks and women. Roy Schmidt, city commissioner of Grand Rapids, Michigan, voted this year against an ordinance adding gays to the existing civil rights code. He insists, "I have no problem with the gay community or gay people. My beliefs aren't based on bigotry or ignorance. But you could take it further and say fat people, prostitutes or left-handed people deserve their own protections." Like many people who regard themselves as unprejudiced, Schmidt sees gay rights as a threat to traditional families. "The core family unit already has enough problems. I don't want my three sons to think that the gay life-style is acceptable." If his children turned out gay, he adds, "I would never disown or break away from them. But I would try to have them mend their ways."
At the extreme, distaste for gays can lead to violence. The FBI, which has begun keeping statistics on hate crimes because of a congressional mandate, reports that in 1992 there were at least 750 cases of assault and intimidation * against homosexual men and women. Those jolting numbers may be vastly understated. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force surveys data on gay bashing in six cities -- Boston, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York and San Francisco. For 1992, it reported 2,103 episodes. While cases in other cities declined substantially in 1993, they jumped 12% in Denver, perhaps as a result of emotional debate over an antigay referendum question on the 1992 Colorado ballot.
Another telling count comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Klanwatch Project, which says at least 30 murders in the U.S. last year were hate crimes, a third aimed at gays and lesbians in places as rural as Humboldt, Nebraska, and as urban as Washington, D.C. Says Klanwatch researcher David Webb: "As gays and lesbians become more visible, hate crimes rise in direct correlation. Bigotry today isn't just about the color of one's skin. In fact, people now are less likely to condemn someone for being black or Hispanic. It has become more acceptable to go after gay men and lesbian women." In Los Angeles County last year, hate crimes against gays overtook similar attacks on blacks.